Sunday, August 31, 2008

Does “CNN” sound familiar? … “Cabel News Network”, better known as CNN, is a television channel from the US founded in 1980. At present, CNN is the most viewed news channel in the United States. And what has this got to do with learning English?

Well, CNN offers a free service called Student News with very attractive material for practising English online. On this web site you’ll find:

Videos (in an American English accent) accompanied by a quick guide and a complete transcript. The content of the videos is very diverse, updated regularly and includes interesting news: the Democratic National Convention, severe weather warnings, America the Beautiful, etc. An example of a video is:

Moreover, CNN has a huge collection of audio and video podcasts about a big variety of topics: News and Politics, Business, CNN TV, Sports, Technology, Health, Entertainment, Comedy, Education and Specials. You’ll be able to listen to the podcasts of the legendary Larry King.